Abstract
Historians of different opinions have showed great interest in P.J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins’s two volumes, British Imperialism: Innovation and Expansion 1688–1914, and British Imperialism: Crisis and Deconstruction 1914–1990, since their publication in 1993. Many reviews with comments for and against Cain and Hopkins’s concept of gentlemanly capitalism and interpretation of British imperialism have appeared. The most comprehensive response so far has been the collective work entitled Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Imperialism, which includes eight essays and a general introduction by the editor commenting on Cain and Hopkins’s arguments. This study work also includes an afterword by Cain and Hopkins themselves.1 It seems that ‘gentlemanly capitalism’ is becoming a viable concept in the historical debate on British imperialism, despite the ambiguity surrounding its connotation. Cain and Hopkins’s books, however, have not yet attracted much attention from historians in China: as far as I know, no review has appeared in a Chinese-language publication. In this chapter, I shall comment on Cain and Hopkins’s British Imperialism and elaborate some of my own ideas on British imperialism and decolonization.
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Notes
Raymond E. Dumett (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Imperialism: the New Debate on Empire, Longman, 1999.
D.K. Fieldhouse, ‘Gentlemen, Capitalists, and the British Empire’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 22, No. 3 (1994), p. 536.
P.J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins, British Imperialism: Innovation and Expansion 1688–1914, Longman, 1993, p. 470 (2nd edition, p. 400);
P.J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins, British Imperialism: Crisis and Deconstruction 1914–1990, Longman, 1993, p. 300 (2nd edition, p. 647).
Here are some English publications on the embassy: Earl H. Pritchard, The Crucial Years of Early Anglo-Chinese Relations 1750–1800, Pullman, 1936;
Robert A. Bickers (ed.), Ritual and Diplomacy: the Macartney Mission to China 1792–1794, Wellsweep, 1993;
James L. Hevia, Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793, Duke University Press, 1996.
An Embassy to China: Being the Journal Kept by Lord Macartney during his Embassy to the Emperor Ch’ien-lung 1793–1794, edited with an introduction and notes by J.L. Cranmer-Byng, Longmans, 1962, p. 150.
Hu Sheng, Cong Yapian Zhanzheng Dao Wusi Yundong (From the Opium War to the May 4th Movement) (Red Flag Publishing House, 1982), pp. 317–25.
For an example, see Wang Jingyu (ed.), Zhongguo Jindai Jingji Shi (Modern Economic History of China) (People’s Publishing House, 2000), Vol. 1, ch. 2, ‘The Financial Activities of Foreign Countries in China’, ch. 3, ‘China’s Foreign Debts in the Control of the Power Politics of Powers’ and ch. 4, ‘Foreign Investments in Industry, Mining and Transportation in China’.
CAB 128/8, CM 104 (46) 3, 10 Dec 1946, ‘India: Constitutional Position: Cabinet Conclusions’, British Document on the End of Empire, Series A, Vol. 2: The Labour Government and the End of Empire 1945–1951 (edited by Ronald Hyam), London: HMSO, 1992, part I, Doc 13.
CCM (54) 8, 21 Sep. 1954, CAB 134/786. Quoted in W. David McIntyre’s ‘The Admission of Small States to the Commonwealth’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 24, No. 2, May 1996, p. 257.
Zhang Shunhong, Meng Qinglong and Bi Jiankang, (Ying Mei Xin Zhiminzhuyi) (Anglo-American Neocolonialism) (in Chinese), China Social Science Documentation Publishing House, 1999.
I have made a general survey of the treaties and agreements in the course of British imperial retreat, see ch. 6, ‘Treaties and Agreements: the Transition of Relations’ in The Collapse of the British Empire, written by Shunhong Zhang, et al., China Social Science Documentation Publishing House, 1997.
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© 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Zhang, S. (2002). British Imperialism and Decolonization: a Chinese Perspective. In: Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism and Global History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403919403_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403919403_7
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